Patriots' ironman Thuney tuning up for another year

Thursday

Left guard Joe Thuney says the fact that he was able to be on the field for every offensive snap in 2018 was simply accomplishing what he sets out to do in 'trying to be out there as much as I can."

FOXBORO – He has one-upped the chant his head coach began at the team’s Super Bowl LI championship parade in Boston.

“No days off?”

During the team’s Super Bowl LIII championship season, left guard Joe Thuney took no plays off.

In what was truly a remarkable “ironman” performance even by his standards – Thuney has started each and every one of the team’s regular-season and postseason games since he arrived in Foxboro as a third-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft (57 of ’em in all) and seldom came off the field in the first two years – the 6-foot-5, 308-pounder participated in all 1,371 of the team’s offensive snaps (1,119 regular season; 252 postseason) in 2018.

“Just trying to do what I can for the team,” Thuney said Thursday. “It’s great playing next to the guys and (I) want to do what I can and love being out there, so (I’m) trying to be out there as much as I can.”

Striving to do that once again, Thuney is back at Gillette Stadium, participating in the Patriots’ voluntary offseason program, which leads into organized team activities next week.

“Our strength staff does a great job of conditioning us and trying to prepare us for the season,” said Thuney. “It’s a long season and (it’s a matter of) just trying to stay on top of your body and just trying to be out there for the team.”

The 78th overall choice in the 2016 draft, three seasons later, while there are neither All-Pro selections nor Pro Bowl berths on his resume, Thuney has shown he is not your average Joe, a player who has proven to be dependable as well as durable.

“Joe’s done a great job for us,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said when speaking about the North Carolina state product last November. “He’s one of our best players, one of our most consistent players.”

While there has been stability in the interior of the Patriots’ offensive line – David Andrews at center with Thuney to his left and Shaq Mason on his right at guard – the upcoming season will find Thuney lining up alongside the third different left tackle in as many years as, just as Nate Solder left for the New York Giants as a free agent in 2018, Trent Brown departed for Oakland as a free agent in March. The latest change will likely cast the untested Isaiah Wynn – the team’s top draft pick a year ago, he missed his rookie year after tearing his Achilles tendon in the preseason – into a starting role.

“As an offensive line, you always try and work together as a unit, especially with the guys next to you and stuff and coming into a new system is always tough,” Thuney answered when asked about the role he may play in helping another newcomer transition into a starting position in the line. “Just trying to work with the whole unit and just trying to get everyone up to speed. It’s all about communication and everyone seeing the game with the same set of eyes ... Everyone be(ing) on the same page is really important.”

At this point, there is the possibility that Thuney could be turning the page in another year, free agency looming in 2020 as he heads into the final season of his rookie contract.

Thuney made it clear that, given the opportunity, he’d be happy to continue to hang his helmet in Foxboro for a while.

“I’m just focused on what I control and I’m just focused on being here,” he said. “I love New England. It’s been awesome here and (I’m) just trying to improve and get better and get ready for the season.”

“I love it here. It’s great. The organization’s been awesome. Teammates have been awesome. So absolutely no complaints from me.”

Hello, old friend: Safety Duron Harmon, who along with linebacker Jamie Collins was a member of the Patriots Draft Class of 2013, is happy to see his old teammate back after signing with the team as a free agent.

“Great,” said Harmon. “Obviously, me and Jamie came in together (Collins was selected in the second round of the 2013 draft, Harmon in the third), we’re friends, when he went to Cleveland (through a trade during the 2016 season) we stayed in contact, we kept talking, the relationship didn’t break.

“We all know that Jamie is a tremendous football player, athletic ability through the roof, and he’s just got to come in here, do what he (does), and then earn his spot wherever it is. Play hard and help us try to win football games.”

Harmon said that Collins is “excited to be back, so that’s always good when the excitement is there.”

To make room for Collins, the Pats released defensive lineman Frank Herron.

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